Fire-extinguisher.



T. ODOWD, JR.

FIRE EXTINGUISHEH.

APPLICATION FILED APR-30.1918.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY THOMAS ODOWD, JR., OF WARREN, OHIO.

FIRE-EXTINGUISHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 28, 1919.

Application filed April 30, 1918. Serial No. 231,590.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS ODowo, J r., a citizen of the United States, residing at Warren, in they county of Trumbull and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Extinguishers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fire extinguishers, and more especially to those involving a stationary system; and the object of the same is to produce a system of this kind which may be built into the wall of a house at the time the same is erected or applied to a building already erected.

Another object is to provide means for controlling the outlet of water through the several jets within a room or on a fioor, from a point in that room or on the floor below.

Other details will be brought out in the following specification and claim, and are illustrated in the drawings herewith and in which: I

Figure 1 is an elevation showing a few sections of this fire extinguisher and illustrating the mechanism for controlling the opening of the several jets or nozzles simulultaneously,

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3 of Fi 1.

I n the drawings the numeral 1 designates the base which is a hollow element supposed to be located in the cellar or basement of a dwelling and connected in any suitable way with a water inlet 2. I have shown this inlet as a hose coupled-onto a nipple 3 in the base, and this hose might lead from a remote source of supply or might be connected with the house water system; but in practice, and especially when this fire extinguisher is erected at the time the building is set up, the inlet will be a permanent connection with the house water system as will be clearly understood without ampler illustration.

Erected upon and forming a continuation of the base is a stand-pipe consisting in the present instance of a plurality of sections 5, 6, and 7 illustrated as growing smaller or tapering upward, and the sections are severally connected with each other by watertight joints indicated broadly by the numeral 8. While I have shown these sections of rectangular contour, that is not always necessary although it is perhaps preferable in order that they may be inserted in the wall if this device is set up and applied after the building has been erected. Each section is provided with a plurality of nozzles or jets 10, preferably inclining upward slightly from the sections and also preferably diverging from each other and directed along various lines to the interior of the room or apartment in which the section stands. In a large apartment there might be several of these sections, perhaps one in each corner of the room; whereas if the apartment is smaller, at single section and a plurality of nozzles will answer. The nozzles have valves, but I have thou ht it necessary to illustrate only the valve evers 11 projecting from the valve plugs (not shown) and I connect the levers of the several valves in a set or row by means of an upright rod 12. If there are two series or rows of nozzles as shown in Fig. 1, there will be two sets of levers and two rods. Each rod ma stand fully within the apartment in which the section is located, or, as indicated in Fig. 1, it may pass down through an opening in the floor, being connected with a set of valves in the floor below as at 13, and being carried on down to a point in the cellar or basement by way of an extension rod. When the rod 12 is moved upward or downward to a sufficient degree, the valves in the several nozzles of a set on one floor are opened and all the streams of water begin to flow at once. If the rod is extended as at 13, a person below may manipulate the rod 12 with the same result. It is preferable to connect the several rods throughout several floors of a building so that all the nozzles in one row could be opened from the cellar simultaneously. It is possible that the rods from a second row or series of nozzles (if the sections be so provided) might not be extended but would be operable within the room in which the section is located, but of course where the rods of sections in two floors are connected, a movement which opens the nozzles of one floor will open the nozzles of the next floor.

In use, water is supplied to the inlet and rises within the stand-pipe and fills the same completely. hen now a fire occurs, if the fire is confined to one apartment, a person or perhaps a fireman within that compartment may manipulate a rod 12 to open the several nozzles 10, with the result that various streams of water are directed into the room and the fire is quickly extinguished, or, if the rod 12 is extended as at 13 into the base ment a janitor or fireman or any person there could move the extension and thereby move the rod 12 and produce the same result; and of course if the rods in several sections were connected and extended, they could all be moved by manipulating the extension. Thus if the conflagration should become general the nozzles in all of the sec tions throughout the height of the standpipe could be opened, and the building practically flooded with water. Special attention isdirected to the fact that this improved fire extinguisher can be put into a building already erected. It is by preference entirely of metal, and one section stands on another and is connected with it by a water-tight joint at the point 8, the column of sections standing upon the base 1 which in turn lies on the floor of the cellar or basement. Thus the Weight of the entire stand-pipe and the water contained therein is supported from the floor of the cellar, and it is not necessary to attach it to the walls of the rooms or apartments through which it passes further than that the stand-pipe is held in upright position by the holes through the flooring which are necessarily made for its passage.

The foregoing description and the drawings have reference to what may be considered the preferred, or approved form of my invention. It is to be understood that I may make such changes in construction and arrangement and combination of parts, materials, dimensions, et cetera, as may prove expedient and fall within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a fire extinguisher system, the combination with an upright stand-pipe adapted to be built into the wall of a building from its cellar upward and connected in the cellar with a source of water supply, the standpipe being in sections one for each floor and connected by water-tight joints substantially at the floor line; of two upright rows of nozzles projecting from the stand-pipe between fioors, valves in all nozzles, cranks on the valve stems, the cranks of each series projecting away from the cranks of the other series and alongside the section, an upright rod connecting the cranks in one row and having a handle for local manipulation, and an upright rod connecting the cranks in the other row and extending to a floor below and there having a handle, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS ODOWD, JR.

Witnesses M. J. SLoAN, ETHEL N. MILLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, a. G. 

